Dear friends and family,

There are so many things I want to say! This site was not only a great way to keep people apprised of my progress (thanks so much to Bob, Khaled, and Jani) but now I find it soothing to be able to communicate my appreciation for all of you, memories, feelings, and coping strategies. I thought of more people I want to thank and there are two stories I will tell now (but that doesn’t mean that I won’t talk about other things irrespective of chronology at some point!). I want to tell you about Christmas with my family in Atlanta, how I spent the day of the 6^th month anniversary of this accident, then I will update you on my health.

Thanks so much for staying with us. I have heard from many people that they managed to get through my essay (that’s what my dad called it) and I know there are so many people that I missed… like my family in the Czech Republic, including my aunt Jitka who is looking after my health and telling my mother to relay useful information to me and the others who locked down intense thoughts for my well-being and supported my mom through all this insanity… my sister-in-law’s family (all 300+ of them who pulled for me), and friend’s of Khaled’s and the thoughtful people who know him through work and have continued to inquire about my well-being, the Meades in Ionia, MI, and the wonderful flight crew that flew me from PCMH to Atlanta. I reserve the right to keep adding to this list as time goes on but please don’t hesitate to send me a note if you think I will miss someone!

Christmas story: My dear friends Todd and Megan McDevitt were going to be in Texas to spend Christmas with family and so they loaned their house and one of their cars to us. Not only that, they put up a lovely Christmas tree for us. Did I mention that I have a unbelievably fabulous group of friends? So on Christmas I got a day pass (well, closer to half a day in real time) from Shepherd to be able to spend some quality non-hospital time with my parents, Jani, and the kids. It was wonderful. Jani put me onto the loveseat so people could take turns coming to sit by me. I so enjoyed watching them open presents – we all got spoiled by so many people! When the adults were in the kitchen cooking, Rowan came to me with the Dr. Suess’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, (courtesy of Neil and Lou who visited me at Shepherd first and came all the way from Chicago). As we were reading, Encsi came and wanted to get up onto the couch with us but I couldn’t quite lift her since I don’t have control of my abdominal muscles. So, without hesitation, Rowan hopped off the couch and lifted her up as much as he could….which turned out to be just enough for me to get enough leverage to bring her up all the way. So, even though it only lasted a few minutes (as most of you know children this age don’t sit for too long!), it was an incredible moment for me. I missed them so much it ached.

6 months:

Friday night April 18^th late in the evening, 4 Bettys came (this was the name of our soccer team in Seattle for those of you who don’t know) – Julie from Austin, Megan and Melissa from Atlanta, and Marsha from Worschester, MA.  I got to spend the whole day with them Saturday April 19^th. It was a beautiful day to sit on the patio and talk. As Marsha said, it hit the “Reset” button. I also got a lot of Megan love. Melissa has always been a calming presence. And Julie made me feel like I haven’t missed a beat. We all laughed a lot together and of course, there were a few tears. To say that I am grateful for their friendship is a huge understatement.

So an update:

Healthwise, we are changing things a bit (intranasal – yuck!) to manage my fluid imbalance issues so I’ll let you know in a couple of days how this goes.  My shoulder is still bugging me but my PT did some deep pressure therapy on it and so it is better today.  I caught a bit of a cold – had a sore throat for a couple days and have a little cough but nothing like what I went through the last couple of times. Immune function creeping back! 

You all have inquired about the van that we got Thursday April 17^th, so here are a couple of pix. I will tell you that I drove Jani to therapy with me last Friday April 18^th and he came in the pool with me. Saturday April 19^th was my first time out without Jani (I’ll bet this felt pretty good for him too!). Where did the Bettys go – why, downtown to the 4^th street wineshop of course! We also wandered around in Jefferson’s for a while (I just found a bag in the study/dining room last night – a couple of those cool square candles and holders).  Then we came home and sat on the patio more. Jani took care of the beautiful steaks on the BBQ and made a yummy salad for us! Sunday April 20^th, we went to visit some friends and I drove the whole family there. It was a great feeling to be able to do that and to spend time with good people.

So Jani and I were talking the other day and he came up with this idea (mostly to humor me I think). He suggested that I write a list of things that I won’t be able to do for a while. So we have come up with five…

1. Line dancing.

2. Sit-ups

3. Karate

4. Bull riding

5. Squats

Otherwise I am working on my arm strength and endurance and so I hope to be moving around faster soon so I can bother more of you in person!!

In other news, most of you know that Jani is going to begin his firefighter training today and the kids are going to daycare for the first time. Soon I’ll let you know how all that goes!